Aid Bill Is Good News for Struggling State, City

(WSJ) — New York finally got some good news from Congress on Wednesday when the Senate pushed forward $2.6 billion in aid for the state, after two months of lost votes on the issue threatened to blow big holes in local and state budgets.

Just a day earlier, Albany lawmakers had approved a contingency plan to impose spending cuts if the federal money didn’t arrive. Both Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Gov. David Paterson had warned that without the funds, layoffs would be likely.